I love to do reviews and try new colors. I'm still learning and growing, and I am excited to have others on this journey with me. Feel free to explore!
I'm affiliated with Aly's Dream Polish (not the maker- I only do PR!). All opinions and pictures are my own unless stated otherwise.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Hi friends and followers!!
Remember when I told you I was requested by a polish maker to do swatches for her upcoming collection?!

WELL THEY'RE HERE.
Set to be released the 26th of March (just a few more days!), this collection is named
"The Ultimate Outlaw"
Literary Lacquers was very kind to send me these polishes for review, and I was very impressed by them. As you read, you'll notice two types of font: one in italics- the descriptions and explanations she gave me, and the same font you are reading now- my words, commentary, and opinions. I will also have a wrap-up opinion at the end.
Are you excited as I am?! Here we go!

And So I Step Up

Inspired by The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, a Merlot glass fleck shimmer.
“And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light.”
Offred, the protagonist of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a reluctant rebel. Over the course of the book, she thinks about rebellion often but is too afraid of pain to act directly. Offred is a handmaid, a fertile woman assigned to a Commander of the dystopian Gilead regime to bear a child for the Commander and his wife. In this version of the future set in barely recognizable Boston, women are property, not even allowed to read. Offred’s rebellions are small at first, stealing butter to moisturize her skin and taking a dried out flower from an arrangement, but she eventually begins an affair with the chauffeur, Nick. As the novel ends, the secret police are coming to take her away, but she’s told by Nick that it’s the rebellion coming to help her escape. We do not know if Offred is rescued or sent to her death, but as she steps up into the van and her own uncertain future we can only hope for her safety.

Indoor blue-tint light:

Outdoor sunshine:

Outdoor shade:

Opacity: 1.5# of coats: 3 mediumColor description: a burgundy jelly with shimmer that shifts from red to fuchsia and sometimes to gold.

Original Virtue

Inspired by Oscar Wilde, a warm pinky-coral glass fleck shimmer
“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience and rebellion that progress has been made.”
Oscar Wilde is one of the original celebrity literary outlaws. Accused as a homosexual (which he most certainly was) by the father of his lover, Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas, he sued for libel, but was clearly the one on trial himself. Wilde withdrew his case but was ultimately arrested and convicted of gross indecency with other men and sentenced to two years hard labor. After his release, he left for France and never returned to Britain or Ireland.

Inspired by On the Road by Jack Kerouac, a minty green holo.
The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.

On the Road is a largely autobiographical work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-20th century America on a quest for meaning and belonging in a changing world. It is a defining work of the postwar Beat Generation that was inspired by jazz, poetry, and drug experiences. It rejected the societal norms of the time and ushered in a new concept of personal freedom and the ideals of the Beat Generation and their longing to find meaning in life.

Inspired by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, a shimmering aquamarine holo with blue-green glass fleck.
The trunk of the car looked like a mobile police narcotics lab. We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers . . . and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls . . . Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. And I knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas chronicles (semi-autobiographically) the Las Vegas adventures of Raoul Duke and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, as they chase the American Dream and ponder the failure of the 1960s' counter-cultural movement in a drug-fueled hallucination-filled haze. On assignment from a sports magazine to cover "the fabulous Mint 400"--a free-for-all biker's race in the heart of the Nevada desert--the duo stumbles through Vegas in hallucinatory hopes of finding the American dream (two truck-stop waitresses tell them it's nearby, but can't remember if it's on the right or the left). They never get the story, but they do commit the only sins in Vegas: "burning the locals, abusing the tourists, terrifying the help."
IBTL:

Inspired by Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins, a sapphire blue holo.
Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet.
This quote is the inspiration for the entire collection; it was one of my very favorite books when I was in my late teens.. Robbins fascinated me as a young adult with his fast and loose writing style and penchant for outlaw philosophy. Still Life with Woodpecker chronicles the love affair of two redheads, Bernard Mickey Wrangle, the outlaw bomber philosopher (who is insistent upon explaining the difference between an outlaw and a criminal) and Leigh-Cheri Furstenberg-Barcalona, the environmentalist princess. The two arrive separately in Hawaii for the Care Fest, a gathering of environmental leaders and environmentalists in general (she to participate, he to blow it up), and they meet and fall in love. One part fairy tale, one part philosophical treatise on aspects of love and how to make it stay, and one part an exploration of the boundary between self and other and what happens when you attempt to transcend those boundaries, this book attempts to answer many of the perplexities of life.

Inspired by The Color Purple by Alice Walker, a deep smoky lilac holo.
Oh, she say. God love all them feelings. That’s some of the best stuff God did. And when you know God loves ‘em you enjoys ‘em a lot more. You can just relax, go with everything that’s going, and praise God by liking what you like.
God don’t think it dirty? I ast.
Naw, she say. God made it. Listen, God love everything you love—and a mess of stuff you don’t.
The Color Purple chronicles the struggle of several black women in rural Georgia in the first half of the twentieth century. Upon publication in 1982, the book generated tremendous controversy, instigating debates about black cultural representation. Critics complained that the novel reaffirmed old racist stereotypes and focused too heavily on sexism instead of addressing American racism. Feminists praised the book as a feminist fable of the power of strong female relationships and the idea that gender and sexuality are not as simple as we may believe. The heated disputes surrounding The Color Purple are a testimony to the resounding effects the work has had on cultural and racial discourse in the United States.
IBTL:

Inspired by Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed, a deep blurple holo with blue and purple glass fleck.
It was all unknown to me then, as I sat on that white bench on the day I finished my hike. Everything except the fact that I didn't have to know. That is was enough to trust that what I'd done was true. To understand its meaning without yet being able to say precisely what it was, like all those lines from The Dream of a Common Language that had run through my nights and days. To believe that I didn't need to reach with my bare hands anymore. To know that seeing the fish beneath the surface of the water was enough. That it was everything. It was my life - like all lives, mysterious and irrevocable and sacred. So very close, so very present, so very belonging to me.
How wild it was, to let it be.
Wild is Cheryl Strayed's first-person memoir of her 1,100-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail through California and Oregon to the border of Washington State. After Cheryl’s mother died, she spiraled down into heroin one night stands which led to the destruction of her marriage. After her divorce, with very little left to lose, she decided to embark on a challenging hike despite having very little experience, hoping to save her own life as she explored the wilderness. This book is jam packed with truth and vivid description, from the importance of the right footwear to how to accept grief without allowing it to obliterate us. This book literally made me laugh and cry, sometimes in the same paragraph.

Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem of the same name, a grey crelly packed with holographic and iridescent microglitter and opalescent flakies.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
Edgar Allan Poe is the father of the modern horror genre and Annabel Lee is the last poem he completed before his death. Annabel Lee represents one of Poe’s favorite themes, the death of a young, beautiful woman. Poe’s fascination with love, death and insanity permeates all his works; his version of horror is a psychological one. His enduring popularity owes a great deal to his image as a tortured soul who married his teenaged cousin and after losing her to consumption, spent the rest of his short life drowning his sorrows in brandy and opium, before dying penniless at the age of 40.

Collection summary:I very impressed with the smoothness and shininess of all the polishes. None of my swatches had a base or top coat, and they weren't needed! The dry time is pretty quick too. I did one coat after the other with little dry time in between, and I didn't have any issues with smudging or dents after waiting 10-15 minutes. Although a lot of the colors are more sheer, I didn't mind as much because the extra coats gave a depth to the holo and the shimmer. The only color I wish had been a little more opaque was Annabel Lee. I may just have to take more time and give another try, as I really love the glitters and inspiration behind that color.

Remember this collection isn't available until the 26th, so you'll have to wait just a little longer. While you're waiting you can still hop on over to her store and take a look at her other colors! I highly recommend Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster- it's in my top 15 polishes of all time!Best of all, her holos are only $10 and her shipping costs are a good deal!Shop Literary Lacquers' Store

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Rating System Key:

ALL RATINGS ARE 1-5, WITH 5 AS THE BESTOpacity: A rating of 3 references that the polish becomes opaque at 2 medium coats.Application: A rating of 5 means that the polish is the perfect consistency, neither runny & streaky, nor thick & difficult to apply. It is easy to obtain the right amount on the brush and apply it to the nail.Wear: A rating of 5 usually means that the polish does not require a base or top coat to last multiple days without chipping or wearing at the tips.Removal: A rating of 5 usually means the polish can be removed easily in a matter of seconds with just a cotton ball and some non-acetone polish.